Butternut Squash Soup

With winter showing up too early and uninvited here in the midwest, it is definitely time for soup season! My grandfather used to eat soup almost every day for dinner and I have started eating it almost every day during the cold months. I will fully admit that I was never a big fan of butternut squash because I always found it too sweet. However, since I started making this super easy soup, I have fallen in love with butternut squash and this is now my go to recipe for comfort food, without all of the calories! This recipe is super easy to make and is sure to warm your tummies!! You can check out the video of how I made this soup on my instagram and Facebook. Link at the bottom of the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized butternut squash, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 3 medium yellow potatoes OR 1 large russet potato, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme, chopped OR 1 tsp of dried thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• (optional) 1 tsp piment d’espelette OR cayenne
• 1-2 tsp spanish paprika
• 2 tsp granulated garlic
• 2 qt of chicken stock, homemade or store bought
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Serves about 6

1. Chop onion, garlic, potatoes and squash as directed above.
2. Over medium heat, sauté the onion, thyme and piment d’espelette in about 1 tsp of olive oil (or butter if you are feeling indulgent!) in a large stock pot. You do not need to get any color on the onions, but we want it to be softened.
3. Once the onions are translucent and soft, add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute or until you can smell the garlic perfuming your house.
4. Add in the potatoes and butternut squash. Season with a couple of pinches of salt, paprika and granulated garlic. Allow to cook for a few minutes.
5. Pour the chicken stock over the vegetables and add in the bay leaf and fresh cracked black pepper. To make it super easy, I use boxed chicken stock, but feel free to use homemade if you have it! It will just make it that much better! Now, technically you should always preheat your stock before adding it to your soup, but I am going to be completely honest, I don’t do that because…I am too lazy/I don’t want to dirty another pan 🤣. If you preheat the stock, it will help your soup come to a boil faster and save you time, but is it worth the dishes? LOL! Just kidding!
6. Bring the pot to a boil and then lower it to a simmer. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes or until the squash and potatoes are soft enough to break with a spoon.
7. Take out the bay leaf and hit that thing with an immersion blender! Ok, so don’t actually hit with the blender because those things are expensive! 😂. If you do not have an immersion blender, feel free to use a regular blender, but make sure you take the center portion of the lid off, since it is so hot and you do NOT want to be scalded with hot soup!
8. Serve the soup with a drizzle of crème fraîche (or in my case, a little bit of sour cream mixed with a small amount of milk), a drizzle of olive oil and top with fresh thyme leaves, chives or parsley, to make it EXTRA fancy!

BON APPÉTIT!